A battery is an essential element of a mobile system such as, but not limited to, Electric Vehicles (EV), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), and the like. Batteries are also essential for proper operation of stationary systems including backup power systems for cell towers and data storage centers and for use as an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS). The reliability of these mobile and stationary systems may depend upon performance of the battery and/or an accurate diagnostic of the health or status of a battery. Generally, charge condition of a battery is insufficient to indicate an imminent failure of a battery. Rather, stratification in the electrolyte and deterioration in the electrode structure (e.g., hard sulfation) may correspond to an overall health or status indication of a battery and/or an indication of battery degradation.
Conventional technologies do not possess accurate battery health monitoring systems. Rather, conventional systems generally employ electrical parameters such as battery terminal voltage, current, internal impedance, battery temperature and charge/discharge profile of the battery to determine health of a battery. Further, conventional battery monitoring systems utilize look-up tables generated by laboratory experiments rather than utilizing real time or live indications and chemical parameters for the battery.
Generally, electrochemical behavior of an operating battery may be difficult to interpret due to intermingled electrical and chemical parameters. Further, real time or on-load battery behavior may depend upon chemical reaction rate, electrode structure changes, electrolyte concentration gradient, polarization of electrodes, and motion of ions in the battery electrolyte. Various conventional methods have attempted offline analyses of the sulfation of battery electrodes, electrolyte stratification, and electrode health deterioration due to aging, etc. For example, in “Effects of Electrolyte Stratification on Performances of Flood Lead-Acid Batteries,” Guo, et al. employed an offline experiment to measure the effect of charging and discharging on the surface of battery electrodes. In “Characterisation of Photovoltaic Batteries using Radio Element Detection, the Influence and Consequences of the Electrolyte Stratification,” Mattera, et al. studied capacity loss in lead acid (LA) batteries due to stratification in photovoltaic systems and used radioelement detection to characterize capacity loss. In “State-of-charge Determination of Lead-acid Batteries using Wire-wound Coils,” Hill, et al. determined the state of charge (SOC) for a LA battery using wire wound coils attached to the plastic case of a battery whereby a change in the SOC was inferred by a change in the self and mutual inductance of the coil. Finally, in “Diamagnetic Measurements in Lead Acid Batteries to Estimate State of Charge,” and “New Advances in Lithium Ion Battery Monitoring,” Tinnemeyer, et al. used a magnetic tunneling junction sensor on a Li-ion battery to predict its SOC. There is, however, no direct method available to measure stratification, sulfation and current distribution within the battery during on-load or real time conditions. Further, there is no method or system available to provide a non-invasive system and method to monitor and analyze chemical parameters in a battery and to use such parameters as indications for battery health.